The Self-Inflicted Injury Bug

In football--more than any other sport--the possibility of a game, season or career ending injury is greater on every play.  The amount of continuous physical contact wears down the body--and the brain--faster than any other athletic endeavor except for boxing.  It's been described as being in a minor car crash--over and over again.  So why would so many coaches want to maximize the number of times their players are subjected to the risk of serious injury?

While the Packers injury report was expanding last night, there were plenty of on-line questions about why this team always seems to have so many guys get hurt.  The training staff, the medical staff, even the toughness of the players themselves were questioned.  But nobody every seems to wonder if the style of play favored by Head Coach Mike McCarthy may be a factor.

Like a growing number of coaches at all levels of football, McCarthy wants to play an up-tempo offense that often goes no-huddle and with no substitutions for entire series.  The goal is to "maximize the number of plays" the offense can get during the game.  But by running more plays, every game and every season, you also increase the wear and tear on your offensive unit.  Plus, you force the opposing team to keep the same eleven guys on the field--since Aaron Rodgers goes with a quick snap anytime you try to substitute, drawing a 12-men on the field penalty.  But when up-tempo goes three and out--you are putting your defense on the field for a longer time as well--which leads to greater injuries on that side of the ball too.

Today's football players are being pushed to--and often times past--the limits of human endurance for physical contact.  Yes, players were slower and lighter in the past--and were schooled in proper tackling techniques, rather than trying to blow people up every play--but they were also given more time in games and during the off-season to recover from the physical exertion.  Teams ran the ball a lot more--meaning fewer high-speed collisions in the secondary and a game clock that spent most of the game running.  And after each play, they huddled up--giving everybody on the field a chance to catch their breath--or to be substituted for if they were tired or banged up.

I think that it is more than fair to ask coaches like McCarthy, the multitude of college coaches that use no-huddle hurry up and definitely the growing number of high school coaches adopting the same offenses why they think maximizing the opportunities to get hurt is the "only way to win".